I find it frustrating to hear all the negativity from bloggers about PR. As you said, of course there are some bad apples who may resort to less than credible tactics, but gasp! - there are bloggers who do the same thing. There are PR people AND bloggers out there who are doing an incredible job.

The more we work together, the more effective we all can be. I’d much rather see that than all of the “PR is dead” and “Social Media is making PR Obsolete” headlines.

Additionally, I *loved* learning about the HIV/AIDS campaign - wow. What a difference you made! And what a difference PR still makes, with your many other examples.

Twitter: @SharonG

I think what many people mean when they say ‘PR is dead’, is traditional PR via print and television is dead.
I consider social media PR to be in an of itself an actual and very much alive endeavor.

A social media PR practitioner has good relationships with writers of digital media, is knowledgeable of current online hotspots where certain subcultures are thriving, creates a social media index, and understands various online cultures/languages/etiquette; it’s almost ethnographic research in a way. They then are able to disseminate a client’s message in an honest and appropriate manner that best tells a story.

Here’s hoping that traditional PR companies can learn to encompass and utilise social media. I just had a conversation today about the above ideas with an HR representative from Waggener Edstrom; unfortunately she just didn’t get it. I really like that company a lot, but I worry for them if they are not going to embrace and engage in what was cutting edge and now has become almost de rigueur.

Twitter: @SharonG

Lloyd, thanks for this awesome post - I couldn’t agree with you more. Full disclosure: I too am a PR person and feel that, done right, it’s a noble calling and nothing to be mocked or blacklisted.

If PR is dead, long live PR!